Microsoft, Comdisco Team on Windows Solutions

Comdisco Inc. and Microsoft Corp. will partner to offer a suite of services to enable businesses to achieve the highest levels of uptime for their mission-critical and Web-based applications running on Windows NT and 2000 Server platforms.

Under the agreement, the companies will jointly develop, market, and deliver solutions designed to provide companies with availability for their Windows-based environments, including data, applications, hardware, networks, and storage.

Through the agreement, the jointly-delivered services will be backed by service-level agreements and will focus on offering application availability with data integrity, systems availability, and Windows application recoverability to ensure that customers can maintain the required availability of critical applications. The solutions will be implemented by Comdisco's (www.comdisco.com) Professional Services organization, which specializes in availability solutions and includes Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) Certified Professionals experienced in architecting and designing availability solutions. The services will be sold through Comdisco's sales organization and Microsoft's Premier Support Services Group.

The agreement establishes Comdisco as a Microsoft Certified Support Center (MCSC) focused on high availability solutions. MCSCs deliver a range of technical support services and work in conjunction with Microsoft to provide effective support to customers. The alliance also expands on an earlier partnership between the two companies formed last year with the opening of the Premier/Alliance System Center. - Isaac Slepner